Category Archives: Miami Marlins

The Marlins didn’t spend the offseason trying to replace Jose Fernandez, who was killed in a boating accident late last season. It would be impossible for them to replace his talent on the field and presence in the clubhouse. They added a few pitchers and boosted their bullpen. I like the additions they made.

The Marlins may not be able to keep up with the Nationals or Mets, but they will be competitive this season. They hope to improve on last season’s 79 wins. I think they have a shot.

The Marlins are one of the most schizophrenic teams in professional sports. They constantly go from trying to ‘win it all’ to ‘full-blown rebuilding mode’. I’m not sure which side of the spectrum they are now since they did give Giancarlo Stanton a huge payday last season, but hasn’t spent a dime since on anyone that can help them win now.

Miami will benefit from being in one of the most mediocre divisions. The Nationals and Mets will run away with the division with the Phillies and Braves solidly holding camp in the basement. Miami will cut their teeth with some very winnable division games.

Will Miami make some moves this season by trading Stanton or Fernandez at the trade deadline?

Watch out, guys. The Miami Marlins opened their checkbooks this offseason. This happens once a decade, so enjoy it while it lasts.

Miami paid Giancarlo Stanton to a big contract and traded for some legit talent. They didn’t acquire washed-up players. They acquired guys like Dee Gordon and Mat Latos. Players who are just now hitting their prime.

Miami will be without their ace Jose Fernandez for the first few months of the season. He needed Tommy John last May. He is already throwing off a mound, so they are circling June as a possible return date.

The Miami Marlins have become the farm system for every other Major League team. They draft well and once those players get too pricey, they flip them for even younger talent.

They are in the process of rebuilding (once again), but with Jose Fernandez and Christian Yelich now in the Majors, they could be competitive within the next two years. The further development of those two players will determine their future.

The NL East is top heavy with Atlanta and Washington expected to battle for playoff spots. Unfortunately, Miami has to play them a few dozen times this season. Those games could be ugly.

Can Jose Fernandez repeat last season’s NL Rookie of the Year performance? Will Giancarlo Stanton be traded before the All-Star Break?

After running Joe Girardi out of town and trading five of his best players last season, team owner Jeffrey Loria is one of the most hated men in Miami.

The Marlins spent big money last season to open its new state-of-the-art stadium. The entire NL East got better and the Marlins didn’t produce. He decided to blow up the team and trade Hanley Ramirez, Jose Reyes, Josh Johnson, and others in another salary dump by the Marlins.

The MLB trade rumor mill is in full force. Every beat writer conjures up a scenario in which every player could be traded. I think the current trade market is filled with every player in the MLB not named Bryce Harper or Andrew McCutchen.

The Miami Marlins opened up a beautiful new stadium this season, but currently find themselves at 43-36. They are nine games out in the NL East and six games out of the a Wild Card spot. Things aren’t dire, but they would need to leapfrog many teams to make the playoffs.

Who else is on the trading block on the Marlins? Could another Florida team also be sellers at the trading deadline?
Olney goes on to say that Omar Infante and Josh Johnson could also find themselves on the trading block if the Marlins stumble after the All-Star break.

Stanton is currently on the disabled list with an injured knee. He will be out about a month, so trading him by July 31st could be difficult or nearly impossible. He would be their best trade piece if they decide to completely rebuild, but I believe that Stanton is their franchise player to build around. He is hitting .284 with 19 homers and 50 RBI…on pace for a monster season.

The Marlins had plenty of prospects come through Miami and fizzle out. Dan Uggla, Jeremy Hermida, Josh Willingham, and Mike Jacobs didn’t do a whole lot for the franchise. They currently have Gabby Sanchez, Hanley Ramirez, Anibal Sanchez, and Logan Morrison not living up to their hype. Stanton destroyed the minors and he keeps improving. He’s not a guy you want to give up on.

Johnson has about $20 million left on his contract through the rest of this season and the 2013 season. It is a fair price for a #1 starter, if he can stay healthy. They would get a nice haul for him, especially if he’s traded to a contender with a stocked farm system. The Pittsburgh Pirates, Texas Rangers, or Detroit Tigers would be ideal trade partners, since they have an abundance of top-tier prospects to trade.

Second base is a very shallow position in MLB. Major offensive production from the position is rare these days. Infante is the current prototypical second baseman. He bats around .275 with low double-digit power and steals. He would be a nice stopgap for a team who has no current answer at second. He’s an excellent defensive player with a .989 and .981 fielding percentage the last two seasons.

I contacted Tom Green, the associate reporter for MLB.com who covers the Miami Marlins, about Miami’s trade rumors. He calms Marlins fans down by saying he “doesn’t see them selling Giancarlo or J.J.”

Heath Bell, Carlos Zambrano, and even newly-acquired Carlos Lee could also find themselves bring shopped at the deadline. Bell is having a disastrous season so far and with Juan Carlos Oviedo (formerly Leo Nunez) coming back from suspension, could find himself booted permanently from the closer role.

At the end of Olney’s blog post, he also mentions that if the Tampa Bay Rays keep sliding, they could also start to reload their team.

It’s hard to pinpoint the players who have a lot of trade value, but Kyle Farnsworth, Jeff Keppinger, and Luke Scott seem like players who are expendable. They wouldn’t get a huge haul, but with the need for bullpen help, Farnsworth would get the most in return.

I love being able to having different voices on this blog. It enhances what we are trying to do, to give interesting takes on sports and entertainment. Rebecca Wilcox is the latest person to guest blog on our site. Her take on major league ballparks is an opinion that we both share.

She takes aim at PETCO Park, the new Marlins’ stadium, and Comerica Park. She points out how a team could benefit and gives statistics to back up her opinion.

I know you will enjoy her take. Do you agree with her opinion? Let us know your thoughts by leaving a comment.Over the past few years there have been several new Major League Baseball ballparks constructed and opened. The New York Yankees, Minnesota Twins and Miami Marlins have all opened new stadiums in the past few seasons. Some of these new stadiums have come under scrutiny due to how far from home plate the outfield fences were built. Some, however, have gained reputations as too home run friendly.

Ballparks, such as Comerica Park in Detroit, have shortened the fences, while others, such as Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia have lengthened theirs. Are Major league Baseball park fences not friendly to theHomeRun Monkey? If Giancarlo Stanton has his way, Marlins Park’s outfield fences would be moved in. “Balls that you feel should go out are barely scraping by,” Stanton told ESPN. Yet there has been only a slight decrease in home runs per game from the old stadium, 1.56 in 2011, to the new stadium, 1.24 through May 1, 2012.

Weather could have just as much a factor as the warmer more humid summer months tend to help balls travel further. Another notoriously difficult park for the HomeRun Monkey is PETCO Park in San Diego. With some of the deepest fences in MLB, PETCO Park has averaged at or near the bottom of MLB in home runs hit per game for four years running and in 2012 PETCO has by far the lowest count, averaging only one home run per game played in the stadium.

However another recently built stadium has seen a sharp rise in home runs, the new Yankee Stadium. In 2008, the last year the Yankees played in old Yankee Stadium, hitters averaged 1.98 home runs per game. That average leapt by almost a full point, to 2.93, in the first year of operations at new Yankee Stadium. So far this year Yankee Stadium is by far the most home run hitter friendly park with an average of 2.95 dingers per game. It seems to stand to reason that shorter fences make for more home runs.

The top ten stadiums with the shortest fence dimensions in right and left fields are among the top 15 stadiums each year in home runs per game. However, other factors do contribute to those numbers. Indoor versus outdoor stadium, number of power hitters on the home team, number of slowpitch pitchers versus fireballers faced are all factors that need to be considered. However, empirical evidence certainly seems to support Mr. Stanton’s position.

The Miami Marlins have suspended manager Ozzie Guillen for five games for comments made in which he expressed respect for Cuban leader Fidel Castro. Miami has a very large Cuban population and the majority of the population detests Castro. It could be the worst thing that Guillen could have said, since this is his first year on the job and the Marlins recently opened up a new ballpark. They need the locals to come out and support the team. The Cuban population will not back a manager that supports a dictator that has suppressed their families for decades. Is five games enough to quench the fans’ anger? Will Guillen finally learn from his mistake?
This is not the first time that Guillen has been caught in a scandal that involved his mouth. He is extremely blunt and his opinions are usually a tough pill to swallow. His personality is the reason why he is no longer the manager of the Chicago White Sox. He lead them to their first World Series win since the “Black Sox scandal.” GM Kenny Williams finally had enough and had to let his former teammate go to another team. He had a couple sub-par seasons, but nothing that would be deemed as bad. If he kept his mouth shut, Guillen would have been entrenched as the manager of the White Sox. Keeping one’s mouth shut isn’t in Guillen’s instruction manual, so he landed in Miami as their skipper.

ESPN’s Dan LeBatard said it best, “Fidel Castro is our Adolph Hitler,” in reference to the Cuban population in South Florida. He added, “even a pro-Castro music act cannot play in Miami,” which sums up the community’s united front against the Cuban dictator. Guillen’s comments sting much harder in that area than anywhere else in America. Immigrants from Cuba float on rafts and risk their lives to make it to Florida. If you hate a man enough to risk your life and float on a piece of rubber for hundreds of miles, you’re not a huge fan of Guillen at this moment.

The Marlins suspended Guillen for five games and bench coach Joey Cora will take over during that period. We have seen authority figures come down on Guillen for his comments, but nothing has changed. He started his managerial career with the Marlins and he was making stupid comments during that time. Dan Patrick admitted that he interviewed Guillen during that time. He had to omit part of the interview, because he said something very derogatory about a player on his team. After the interview, the Marlins public relations representative came over and said that he didn’t mean that last part and that Patrick should leave it out. The quote didn’t make it into ESPN magazine, because Patrick thought that it was off-the-record and he didn’t want to take advantage of Guillen. This was only the beginning of his miscues as a team’s public figure.

Guillen publicly apologized, in English & Spanish, for his latest miscue during a nationally televised press conference. He admitted that this has really bothered him and he couldn’t sleep for the last few days. Guillen said, “I feel like I betrayed my Latin community,” which considering the circumstances, is an accurate statement. He looked defeated and physically bothered by the public backlash.

Miami Marlins fans will have to walk a very thin line over the next few years. Guillen will turn the franchise around, but he’ll say a few dumb things along the way. You’ll have to learn to push the mute button when he addresses the media. Marlins fans may need to confide in a few White Sox fans over the next few years. What Guillen said was extremely offensive and ignorant, but as a fan, you need to decide if you will be okay if he messes up again…because it will happen.